Earnings of top European officials

The best salary among the European leaders is earned by the German federal chancellor, Gerhardt Schroeder. He earns, after paying all taxes, € 272 000 or almost € 23 000 per month. Even so this sum doesn’t include different bonuses.

The research was carried out by Hay Group, a global organizational and human resources consulting firm based in Philadelphia, USA. The second place is teken by the British PM Tony Blair with € 261 000.

He is followed by the French PM Dominique de Villepin (€ 240 000), the Belgian Guy Verhofstadt (€ 192 000) and the Dutch Jan Peter Balkenende (€ 123 000). The lowest income is earned by the Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka – only € 50 000 per year, that is a little more than € 4 000 per month. Poland entered the European Union only in May of the last year. And the Polish PMs will have to toil out before earning at least € 7 000 – the salary of a MP in the European Parliament.